Category Archives: Newsletter

Our program coordinators, Nancy M. and Michelle C., have been hard at work designing and planning our upcoming Year of Linen. As you can probably guess from the title, we will be concentrating on linen work, starting with the Martina Rosenberg’s Tiny Rose Garden mandala design this month. An added bonus is Nancy’s promise to demonstrate a simple, yet elegant way to finish your completed stitching that does not require any sewing. To continue with the linen theme, starting in May, Nancy and Michelle will be lead us in creating our own unique band samplers based on our favorite stitches. This promises to bring plenty of surprises, fun, and depending on the stitcher, lots of embellishment opportunities. So break out your stash of linen and threads and join in the fun!

Don’t forget to get your projects ready to submit to the San Diego County Fair. The handbooks are now available on the fair website. And in case you need some dedicated stitching time to finish that fair project, we have an Open Stitching schedule for April 11 with our sister chapter, SDANG.

Another year has come and gone, and now that it’s February, I’m finally in the habit of writing 2015 whenever I need to date something.

As has been our habit for the last year or two, the February Muchas Manos meeting will be held in conjunction with the regular SDANG meeting, this Tuesday, February 10. The program is a continuation of the scissor fob project that we began in January. It’s been interesting learning to use wire in place of fiber to create these sparkly fobs.

Our new program coordinators, Nancy M. and Michelle, are busy developing plans for the year. We’ll start the year working a Mandala from Chatelaine Designs. Nancy wrote a wonderful introduction to this project. Please plan to join us and learn more about mandalas. An added bonus is Nancy’s promise to demonstrate a simple, yet elegant way to finish your completed stitching that does not require any sewing. For the machine challenged members, that should be a big plus! The Tiny Rose Garden is just the first installment of what I expect to be an exciting year.

Don’t forget to get your projects ready to submit to the San Diego County Fair. Please see Margie’s article for more details and dates.

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather and having time to get some stitching done.

This month our membership will be voting on the new board for 2015. Just can’t believe how fast this year has gone by! Thank you to the nominating committee for coming up with the new board.

We will also be voting on the chapter Bylaws. An email was sent with the Bylaws for your review before the meeting. Please take a look at them so we can have an informed vote.

Next month the meeting will be our Holiday Party on December 7 at 1:30-5:00 pm at the Scripps Ranch Community center. We will be having a Tea themed celebration and a sweet treat potluck. So, bring your favorite dessert and also a container to bring goodies home in. Also, the gift exchange will be a hand stitched ornament or $20 for a stitch related gift. Hope to see everyone there. It is always so much fun!

In January and February the meetings will be joint meetings with SDANG on their regular meeting nights since the space will not be open on our regular night due to the holidays.

Lots to look forward to in the next couple of months. Keep those needles busy and see you all soon!

I hope everyone is getting some stitching done while we are no longer in such a heat wave where we can’t even think much less stitch! It is so nice to be able to stitch again and looking forward to the fall weather.

This meeting is open stitching and some of us will be at the EGA seminar in Phoenix. Looking forward to that too! Laura will be leading the meeting so it should be a good one.

Next month we will be voting on the slate of officers for next year and also on the By-Laws so we can get them to National by the end of the year. We will send them out by email before the November meeting for everyone to look at and vote on.

Hello Stitchers! Hopefully everyone had a fabulous Labor Day holiday and was able to get some stitches in. I had a week off and was fairly productive. Started and actually finished another knot rug, did another beaded ornament and did some beading for a friend. Whew! It was a highly enjoyable week for me.

This is the year the By-Laws need to be approved, so we will have them either at this meeting or the October meeting to vote on before we send them in. Thank you to Shirley C. for taking on the task of revising and updating them for us. It is greatly appreciated!

EGA Seminar will be here before we know it. Yay! I am looking forward to attending and seeing old friends and making new ones. And all the wonderful stitchy treats and goodies too! If anyone will be attending the closing banquet and would like to sit at the same table, please let me know and we will include you in our list.

Just a reminder, the nominating committee will be looking for members to join the board. Two positions are available, President and Programs. Programs can be co- chaired by two people, so it can make it more easily planned. Please consider giving back to the chapter and helping support us and keeping our chapter alive by volunteering for a position. There are all sorts of people to help out and it can be fun too.

Thank you to Gini for your eBay sales and funds raised for the chapter. That has been awesome!

This month’s program will be led by Gini and is inspired by Gary Clark’s work. I am looking forward to it.

Hi Stitchers. I hope this letter finds everyone doing well and fitting some stitching into your busy schedules.

This month we will be asking for Nominating Committee members. We will be voting on the new Board Members in November, so I thought it would be nice to have some time to come up with the new slate of officers. We need two positions….President and Programs. It was suggested that Programs be position of two members to make it a bit easier. We do have some ideas floating out there for at least some of next year’s programs.

Members, please think about volunteering for one of these positions. We have a great chapter and members. Everyone is so helpful and really makes these positions much easier than you might think.

We have secured our venue for the Holiday Party. It is scheduled for December 7 at the Scripps Ranch Community Center. It will be a Tea theme and, of course, a potluck dessert for after the Tea. Bring something to take the extras home since the desserts are always quite yummy! We will also do the gift exchange. The usual monetary limit of $20 and only stitching related gifts. It should be fun as always. Laura always does such a wonderful job! And just a reminder of SDANG’s Plum Blossom Kimono workshop. See the flyer for details or go to the website www.sdang.org. It is just a beautiful piece and everyone I know that has stitched this piece just loved doing it.

The program this month is the pincushion frame. I have some frames that I will bring for purchase and some materials and batting. You will need some sewing thread and sewing needles to complete the project. I anticipate everyone should be able to leave with a finished project….Yay! They make nice little gifts too.

Well, I will let you get back to stitching. Stitching time is a very precious commodity after all.

Hoping everyone is enjoying the wonderful summer weather and staying cool and getting lots of stitching done in between the summertime activities.

We will be doing an ornament program to kick off our outreach project for the families that lost their homes in the recent fires. Last I know, we need at least 63 but would like to see if we can reach possibly 75 just in case there are a few more that are added to that total. We can do it!

Next month, we will be making our own little “Framed” pincushions. They are really quick and can be addictive to make. So many fabrics and frames to choose out there in the stores!

SDANG is having Margaret Bendig’s Plum Blossom Kimono workshop and the registration deadline is coming up. Be sure to see more on the workshop at SDANG.org. It is a simply gorgeous piece and everyone I know that has stitched it has just had the best time with it and were just thrilled with the finished pieces.

That is it for now. In the meantime, keep those needles working and the creativity flowing. And remember the Bookmarks for the library reading program and the Soldier Kissing Pillows for small quick projects in between those larger pieces.

I hope everyone is finding this wonderful weather conducive to stitching all of your masterpieces and providing lots of inspiration for your creative ideas. Can’t beat the weather in San Diego!

I want to thank all of the members participants in last month’s Chapter Stash Sale. There were so many wonderful things to peruse it was fabulous. Thank you all for donating to the chapter. And thank you to all who purchased items. We certainly couldn’t have done it without everyone’s generous donations and purchases. I don’t have the figures yet on the final profit for the chapter yet, but hope to have it by the meeting so you can all give yourselves a pat on the back for such a great job. Thank you!

Angelina H. is spearheading a mini outreach program to provide Christmas or Holiday ornaments for the families that lost their homes in the recent fires.

We are hoping to be able to donate at least 63 stitched ornaments. If we could do a few more just in case there are more, that would be fantastic! The ornaments need to be completed and collected by the October meeting. We can do it!

As everyone knows, it’s Fair Time! I would like to congratulate the winner this year for the Chapter Donation of a year’s free membership for 2015…..Drumroll please…..Gini M.! I am looking forward to seeing her piece as well as all the other pieces entered this year. I hope everyone gets a chance to get to the Fair to see them in person also. Congratulations again Gini. You deserve it!

Well, my needle and thread are calling so I must go for now. In the meantime, may all your stitches be happy ones with no reverse stitches.

It’s May already! Wow! I wish my stitching could go as fast as the time goes.

There are a couple of things happening soon.

The May meeting is an Ice Cream Social/Stash Sale. We will be starting the meeting will begin at 6:30, a little bit earlier to allow just to start the shopping and eating since who wants melted ice cream? All the funds from the donated items will go towards the chapter to help further our stitching and learning opportunities. If you do have some things to donate, we ask that you put a price on them. We will have the doors open at 5:30 if you have any donations. Don’t forget your check books!

The workshop tentatively by Margaret Bendig, Heart Felt Stars, has been moved to 2015. Keep your eyes open for the details. It is a wonderful project and would be a perfect piece to add to anyone’s stitching tools and accessories. We can’t have enough of those!

Membership dues are due. Please be sure to have your dues paid to Susan S. May 22 so that we can get them to National and Regional on time.

We have submitted our request for the International Teachers Tour and are waiting to hear back if we are able to have a workshop with Alison Cole. She is an Australian stitcher and has beautiful pieces. We will update you as we receive more information.

I’m hoping our April Showers, few that they are in our neck of the woods, will be helping to not only bring May flowers, but lots of stitching opportunities and lots of beautiful pieces.

Laura has lots of great programs planned and we hope you will be able to join in in all of them. This coming meeting will be the Crazy Quilt Etui. It looks like a great addition to anyone’s stitching accessory stash. I am looking forward to stitching it.

It is also coming up to that time of year that dues are due. Susan S. will be letting us know much our dues will be, so be on the lookout for her notification soon.